Destinee Ramos may only be in eighth grade, but she’s already spoken in front of a former United States president and the commissioner of the National Football League.

The student at Shattuck Middle School in Neenah was selected to represent the nationwide Fuel Up to Play 60 program as a speaker at the GENYOUth Annual Gala on Dec. 6 at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City. Former president Bill Clinton was the keynote speaker and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell gave an address at the fundraising event.

Ramos was one of four student speakers representing groups funded by GENYOUth. Others were from Massachusetts, Arizona and Minnesota. All of the students received a four-day, three-night, all-expense paid trip to New York City. Her mother and grandmother accompanied her on the trip.

The daughter of Juan and Sarah Ramos, Destinee attended Alliance Charter Elementary. Ramos spoke for four minutes about what the Fuel Up to Play 60 program has meant to her personally as well as her community and school. Shattuck and Horace Mann Middle Schools both regularly have half days with an all-school focus on being active.

“These programs have not only changed my life, but they have changed millions of other students’ lives nationwide,” Ramos said in her remarks. “These programs have not only taught me lifelong skills, but they have shaped me into the leader standing before you today.”

Ramos was selected to speak after writing and performing a short song at a Fuel Up to Play 60 national summit in Minneapolis last summer. She also was among three Wisconsin students who appeared in a Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board commercial with Green Bay Packers’ kicker Mason Crosby this past summer. Ramos is a regular participant in Neenah middle school drama productions.

Ramos first became involved with the Fuel Up to Play 60 program as a sixth grader at Horace Mann. She quickly became an “ambassador” in the program, rallying other students and leading the program at her school. In the summer of 2016, she attended her first national summit in West Lafayette, Ind. among 156 students from 45 states and a variety of NFL players.

According to the Fuel Up to Play 60 website, the organization has 60,000 student ambassadors nationwide. It is an in-school nutrition and physical activity program launched by the National Dairy Council and the NFL in collaboration with the USDA. It is the nation’s largest in-school wellness program

GENYOUth is a philanthropic organization focused on elevating youth leadership to advance wellness in schools and communities. Fuel Up to Play 60 is the nonprofit’s signature program.

The Neenah Joint School District will not discriminate on the basis of color, sex, race, religion, national origin, ancestry, creed, sexual orientation, pregnancy, marital or parental status, or physical, mental, emotional or learning disability; nor allow anyone to be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in any program or activity, or employment.